The New Gods

The New Gods Every year, Carillo Puerto, a small village in the mountains in southern Mexico, becomes the set of an unusual celebration. Over the years, the village has developed its own unique version of the well-known Mexican tradition consisting in re-enacting Jesus’ procession and crucifixion on Holy Fridays. Whilst everywhere else it is a day of mourning, , in Carillo Puerto - on the contrary - is taken over by a surreal and poetic theater of the absurd, where unconventional masquerade runs the street in a chaotic madness. Rooted in an amalgam of religious beliefs, local and popular culture, pagan traditions and personal mythologies, the homemade costumes and characters become a microcosm of specific roles and interaction in contemporary society as well a revealing each person’s desire to personify someone else. This is a larger exhibition project that includes photographs as well as sculptures. The project is created in collaboration with visual Mexican artist Alejandro Garcia Contreras.

Josee Pedneault lives and works in Montréal. In 2005, she completed with honors her MFA in Studio Arts at Concordia University. Her photographic and installation work has been shown in Montreal, Toronto, Quebec City, France, Poland, China, Cambodia and Luxembourg. Since 2006, Josee completed various residency programs: CCA Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw (Poland, 2006), Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris (Paris, France, 2008), The William Blair Bruce European Fine Art Travel Scholarship (Sweden, 2008), and SIM Reykjavik (Iceland, 2011). Josee’s work has been part of art festivals such as Le Mois de la photo in Montreal, for which she was awarded the People’s Choice Award, the 4th Manif d’art in Quebec City, the festival Jeune Creation in Paris, the Photo Festival of Phnom Penh in Cambodia. She has also been part of the group of Canadian artists presented at the Canadian Pavillion of Shanghai’s 2010 World’s fair, in China. Josee is co-founder and president of the board of directors of Les Territoires, a non-profit organization that aims to give opportunity to emerging artists and curators. She also teaches photography at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.